Chapter 1
Warning/s: None really. Set post-season 4 but before season 5 so as long as you've seen up to 4x13 you should be fine.
A/N: Dedicated to musicnlyrics who's my 500th ever reviewer. As a reward she gets a story written for her with her ideas and general outline. Big shout out to her, because this story wouldn't ever have started without her. That being said and done, please enjoy the chapter and favourite and follow and review if you want to!
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, and that's probably a good thing for the entire viewing population.
A couple of new maids passed Merlin, eyes widening as they took in her baggy shirt and trousers, complete with navy neckerchief. Evidently they hadn't heard about her infamous fashion sense yet. She simply carried on walking, peering over the top of the stack of Arthur's armour so she could actually see. The now gossiping women turned the corner, and Merlin heard squeals and high-pitched apologies as they ran into someone. Someone male, by the sound of it. More squealing followed as the deep voice told them 'no worries, m'ladies, it's fine'. Merlin rolled her eyes as she imagined the two blonde airheads curtsying and batting their eyelids.
"Merlin!" Oh, joy. It was Thomas, the head of servants. Merlin guessed that he could be considered handsome – and was by most maidservants (and a few of the manservants) – in the castle with his rugged good looks, consisting of mahogany, curly locks and hazel eyes, complete with a tall, muscular build. To be honest, for all of his sweet lines and charming gazes, he was hiding an absolute prat underneath. An absolute prat who just had to be utterly fixated with her. Not Eliza, the kitchen girl who wore short skirts and low cut tops and threw herself onto both servants and knights like a leech. No, her, plain old Merlin, who had next to no figure showing at any time, and who was considered ugly – by herself, that was.
"Thomas! I haven't seen you for a month!" Why couldn't it have been two?
"I know…I've missed you." Merlin resisted the urge to flinch away as he neared her. He reminded her of a wolf, with his smile that showed all of his teeth and the way he prowled rather than walked. He was doing it now, stalking instead of strolling towards her. When he held out his hand she accepted it out of politeness and respect for his position, nothing else, and she had to repress a shudder as he pressed his lips to her knuckles. She never understood that gesture; women didn't do anything back apart from simper and blush and perhaps curtsy. None of which Merlin did. Instead, she managed to put down the armour she had been holding precariously with one hand so it didn't fall over and then faced Thomas, bowing her head slightly in return.
Thomas looked slightly put out by her reaction, or lack thereof – most women would have fainted by now – but quickly regained his 'pride'. Puffing out his chest, he said, "The banquet tonight – your services are required. To serve the king and queen with drink."
Merlin already knew this, but she smiled and nodded anyway. "Thank you, Thomas, I shan't forget."
"Good," he said and nodded pompously. With that he marched away, hands clasped behind his back, pausing only once to give her a wink over his shoulder.
"Arrogant idiot," she muttered darkly, stooping to pick up the armour again.
"Who does he think he is," she continued to herself as she made her way down the stairs, "just 'knowing' that I desire him? Because I most certainly do not," she added hastily, as if someone was there listening. "He's even worse than Arthur."
Merlin's talking to herself was a nice distraction, and also proved to be short lived when she overestimated where a step was and slipped through thin air's feeble grasp. She gave an involuntary shriek, falling forwards, and dropped the armour. Luckily she was only ten steps or so from the bottom, and so when she hit the ground, it pressing cold and hard into her cheek, she was no more than a little dazed, and only one side of her face hurt – the side she'd landed on, funnily enough.
"Merlin? Merlin!" Her groggy mind recognized a voice, though she couldn't put a name or face to it for a second. Then it clicked and she smiled. Percival.
She heard a clanging of armour as he brushed things out of the way and barely had time to think about complaining indignantly about how she had just polished all that, before she was hauled – gently, she had to admit – to her feet and examined by an anxious Percival. "You alright?"
"Yeah, m'fine."
Percival scanned her face, his hands on her shoulders. "You should go to Gaius. Just in case."
"But the armour -"
"I'll deal with the armour. You go to Gaius."
"Thank you Percival." She shot him a small smile before pivoting and heading down the corridor that led to the physician's chambers, rubbing her cheek. Percival watched her go worriedly. She was going the right way – that meant she didn't have a concussion, right?
"Can I come in?" Percival called from outside the king and queen's joint chambers. An answer was yelled from inside so Percival entered, easily balancing the king's armour on one hand. Gwen smiled at him from her position at the table.
"Percival? Where's Merlin?" Arthur asked, walking out from behind the screen (fully-clothed).
"She fell down the stairs. Don't worry," he added as Gwen began to stand up, "she's fine. I sent her to Gaius just in case though."
"Good," Arthur said, looking relieved.
"Percival!" Merlin called. The knight turned and smiled as the maid jogged down the stairs to meet him. Predictably, she tripped on the second to last one and fell into Percival's waiting arms.
"Thank you," she said, a little breathlessly. "For that and for taking the armour back. I'll return the favour."
"No need," Percival said, smiling and helping Merlin steady herself. "Gaius said you're alright then?"
"Mm-hm! Well, apart from this," Merlin said, turning her face so Percival could see a large angry bruise on her cheek.
"Ouch…no permanent damage though?"
"No, luckily. It's training now, right?"
"Right. Can I escort you, my lady?"
"You most certainly can, Sir Knight."
Arthur applauded when Merlin stepped out. "Here comes Camelot's greatest balancing act!"
Merlin flushed a bright crimson. Percival thought on his feet, replying, "You shouldn't mock an injured woman, Arthur!"
"Injured?" Gwaine asked, the laughter abruptly stopping.
Merlin turned her pretty head to the side, showing off an impressive multi-coloured bruise that spanned almost her entire right cheek. Next to her porcelain skin, the purple looked livid and a small cut above her metallic blue eye completed the picture. Even Arthur winced.
"Knights, we'll do some basic sparring. Pair off – Percival, with me." Percival nodded his head in understanding. "Merlin, sit down somewhere and rest."
Merlin grinned at the unusual show of affection and sat down half in and half out of the shade, still beaming.
Percival and Arthur moved near to Merlin, who kept up a running commentary about their fighting, as loudly as possible for everyone's benefit.
"Percival lunges and oh! Arthur barely manages to defend. But now the king's attacking and oh, that was an underhand move, you sly person, Arthur."
Arthur stopped them all after an hour, successfully tired out. Merlin stopped her comments, realizing there was nothing left to comment about. But when Arthur waved everyone over, she started again, this time about Arthur as if he wasn't there.
"Well done, men, you all did well today -"
"You better have done, you're the ones who fight to keep the Camelotians alive -"
"We'll meet same time tomorrow –"
"He overworks all of us -"
"Merlin, shut up!"
"I swear he thinks I'm deaf -"
"Merlin, I'm losing my patience!"
"And now he's lying, pretending he ever had any patience in the first place! The prat, honestly…" Merlin tutted and stood.
Arthur took a deep breath, closed his eyes and counted to ten. "Will someone please go and get the practice dummies left over there?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"I will," Percival said, walking over to the discarded models at the base of an oak tree, which was being chopped down by two servants.
"I will too," Merlin chirped, skipping over to help him, joining the older knight by the base of the large tree.
"Now that the distraction's gone –" Arthur started, but was cut off by the sound of a tree breaking and yells. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the tree trunk fall down…and Percival and Merlin right where it was going to land.
I thought you were funny," Percival said, bending to collect a limp dummy.
"Glad to hear it," Merlin replied, doing likewise. They shared a grin but were both distracted by a snapping sound. They both looked behind themselves and saw the tree about to fall, its path focused directly on them.
Merlin didn't think, and nor did her magic. She reacted by instinct and with molten irises time came to an almost standstill. In the extra-added seconds she had enough time to push her and Percival out of the way.
Time returned to normal, and as a large boom hit her ears Merlin winced, thinking of what could have happened if they'd both been underneath. Then she blushed as she realized she was lying on top of Percival. With a stammered apology, she slid off. They both climbed to their feet and Percival picked a stray leaf out of Merlin's messy bun.
"Thanks for that," Percival said, slightly out of breath.
"I said I'd return the favour."
"You just saved my life. I returned armour to Arthur."
"Ah, but you see, if Arthur hadn't have gotten his armour back I would have been killed."
"Are you two alright?" Arthur asked frantically, appearing round the side of the trunk, closely followed by Leon, Gwaine and Elyan.
"He's the one who would have killed me," Merlin said to Percival, pointing at Arthur in case he hadn't got whom she was talking about.
Arthur stared at Merlin for a moment, before deciding, "Well, Merlin's fine. Percival?"
"I'm fine."
"Good. Don't ever scare me like that again," Arthur said accusingly.
"Wasn't exactly our fault that a bloody tree nearly fell on us!" Merlin exclaimed indignantly.
"I think that was very unfair of Arthur, blaming us for a tree nearly crushing us!"
"Let it go, Merlin," Percival chuckled.
"I'm not letting it go until I get out of shock," Merlin said seriously.
"You're in shock, are you?"
"Yes! If you come by Gaius' later I'll have a blanket and everything."
"I'll bear that in mind. Well, goodbye," Percival said as they reached his chambers.
"Goodbye! Hello," as Gwen rushed up and squeezed her arm.
"Come on!" Gwen trilled, dragging the maid down the corridor. "I've got a surprise for you!"
"What is it? Oh, no, wait, it's a surprise, you can't tell me." Merlin rolled her eyes. "I hate surprises."
"This is a good surprise. Trust me. It's for the feast tonight."
"Oh, the feast! The one where Thomas will be trying to talk to me at every spare opportunity. Yay!" Merlin fake cheered. Gwen looked at her sympathetically – she was the only one who knew about her dislike of the head servant.
"Yes, well, I thought you needed to be smartly dressed. So I got you something to wear!"
"Oh no," Merlin moaned as they reached Gwen's chambers. "It's not a dress is it?"
"Yes. And you are wearing it."
When they got inside, Gwen picked up a gold and black dress from the bed. Merlin grabbed it and stared at it in shock. "It's beautiful! I actually want to wear it. I want to wear a dress. What's happening to me, Gwen?"
Gwen merely laughed and directed Merlin to the screen. "Get changed, you idiot, and we'll see how it looks."
A/N: Did you enjoy? Please let me know. Next chapter should hopefully be soon and probably around the same length. Thanks for reading even if you didn't enjoy it but I hope you did!